I've finally worked out what my problem is with this knitting binge. It's not that I don't know how to knit properly, it's that I don't know how to knit improperly. More accurately, before you're all yelling "Knit Naked!" slogans, I don't actually know how to deal with errors.
Basically, I don't get errors, I get highly-trained Ninja Errors. They sneak into my work, cat-footed and blending into the shadows, so that it's all fine when I check it, but three stitches later there are errors going back four rows and raising whole families of little baby errors with nauseating enthusiasm. (The Sex Life Of The Common Garter Stitch. Scary stuff).
I don't know what I do to get these errors. (Well, I've ironed out the extra-stitch ones, thanks to various kind suggestions from Teh Internets. Teh Internets taught me to knit. Fact.) But crossed stitches? weird bobbly bumps at the base of the stitch? sudden ginormous loops that span three stitches which I could have sworn were perfectly normal on the previous row? No clue. Ninja errors. Their ways are mysterious.
Not knowing how I got them, it's actually very difficult for me to do anything about them. The first few (dozen) times an error happened (note the careful passive tense), I ripped the whole thing back and started from scratch. (This is why I'm now very good at casting on). The last few times I've ripped carefully back to the error, picked up all the stitches, on at least one occasion taken them off the needle and carefully picked them up again right way round, and then sat staring blankly at the mistake, occasionally poking it feebly with a needle to see if it miraculously jumped into position. Then I ripped the whole thing back and started from scratch.
Any time now it's going to occur to me to take this poor multi-knitted tangle of yarn to someone who actually knows what they're doing, and humbly beg for enlightement. And, possibly, gin.
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2 comments:
The problem is that you're not spending enough time knitting in the company of actual knitters. T'internet is a wondrous thing, god wot, but no match for actual human people who can peer at your twisty tardis and ... well, laugh, quite possibly, but when they've done that, show you how you did it and how to undo it and how not to do it again. I promise you, you are not the first victim of these ninjas, and highly developed ninja defence systems are available, but probably hard to buy online.
I advise you to descend on, say, wolverine_nun with chocolate, and beg her to intercede. And pour gin.
Also - I'm sorry, but I just can't help myself - I strongly recommend the use of lovely hardwood needles. Happy slidey stitches are much less likely to do weird twisty crossy things than stitches getting all prickly on plastic. Luckily, you have a starter kit on the way... although it may not have the right size. There's always the option of going to get new yarn to match your needles. ;-)
Oh, one thing I can tell you: next time you have stitches mounted the wrong way on your needle (happens to the best of us), you can safely leave them that way and just knit into the back of the loop. Try it, you might like it.
I second that suggestion. It would help to have a knitter watch while you knit and pounce on any errors you might make.
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